Ah, I missed that (and the typo obviously). I usually ‘type’ by tracing my fingers across the keyboard on mobile. This method is 97% correct, 2% incorrect ,and 1% hilarious or embarrassing.
I need to do a better job proofreading and you could do a better job pointing out the typos (so even slow people like me can catch on).
Why? This is a bit complicated to explain. Please take the following in good faith in case I mess it up. 🙂
Even though I’m doing quite well English is not my 1st language. I’ve seen students of a new language fixate on stuff many times. So I wanted to check for that.
In my native language number and numeral are commonly used interchangeably. Exceptions are when you want to indicate how many digits a number has and quite possibly maths students and profs.
Also experts in their fields tend to be fixed on detail that is not relevant or used in common language. An example would be a biologist that wants you to stop calling a strawberry a berry (I’ve encountered similar things in a couple of fields). You’re a cs/maths student so at least that checks out. 😉
Even though I’m educated (uni) in biology (horrible hairsplitters if you let them) and cs (IMO less hairsplitting than bio/maths) I tend to adapt my vocabulary to the crowd and mostly keep it simple. I think the meme is stupid regardless whether you interpret numbers or numerals in the first sentence. OPs user name indicates they are German, so they also grew up using the word ‚Zahl‘ for both. (In a way the meme is slightly less stupid when you consider this)
So I tried to convey the term numeral by providing three synonyms - or so I thought. I thought just using the word digit would lead to many people not understanding. Now I’m having the ‚silliest argument‘ while probably being the sillier part in it. It’s enjoyable though.
Back to the silliness: ChatGPT pointed this article out to me. So, while you are absolutely right in the proper use of the two terms it is also true that they are commonly used interchangeably. This might be a recent development though.
Interesting. That’s not what I get, especially when I read past that sentence in the article or consult other sources.
Commonly they can be used interchangeably whether you like it or not. Depending on audience you might need to differentiate. Given the context of the post and the thread we’re in I’m going to use common language.
What motivates your interest in this? Are you a native speaker?
That’s a good question! Xenophobia has an evolutionary basis and exists in other species as well (e.g. chimpanzees). Encountering another group of humans (or chimps) might be dangerous. Being cautious is beneficial for survival.
However, when you add racism and are actively hostile to another group - is it still a Phobia? And if not or if it is not fear-motivated, what do you call it?
Well, according to the dictionary and Wikipedia (which I both consulted before posting) the word number applies to both 11 and 1. Since that was not good enough for me I added the words cyphers and digits to bring the point across.
Please explain how you missed that / why you pretended to?
According to Wikipedia it was an actual fear that homosexuality is contagious. That belief is probably alive and well amongst idiots.
I always thought it to be more akin to hydrophobia instead of arachnophobia - as in fat reacting to water. Now I think that is to take as fat is neither attacking water nor is it insane.